HAPPY NEW YEAR! - 2014

 

 

Happy New Year, Everyone!

This is a mostly a travel blog, but I veer from that occasionally if something even remotely fits in the “adventura” category and sometimes just because I can.  My recent posts have been me catching up over the past few months, and while I still have much more travel writing to catch up on from my excursion to Central and South America, this post at least brings things a bit more to the current date and provides some highlights.

2013 was a challenging year for me and some parts were devastatingly difficult on a deeply personal level.  However, I traveled more than I ever have before in my life and experienced things that I wouldn’t trade even to make those devastating things go buh-bye, which says a lot for how highly I regard some of my experiences.  That might be an overstatement of sorts but I’m going with it.

So where did I go in 2013?

January – March - Central and South America, specifically:

·         Costa Rica – 6 weeks

·         Rio de Janeiro, Brasil – 3 weeks

·         Buenos Aires, Argentina – 1 ½ weeks

·         Bogota, Colombia – 5 days

·         Peru – just a connecting flight but I hope to write about the brief yet profound effect it had on me just passing through.

May – San Diego, CA – 2 days

July

·         Fresno, CA – 3 days

·         Upstate New York (Ithaca, Groton, Skaneateles, & Aurora) – 6 days

September – San Francisco, CA – day trip

October – Milwaukee, WI – Overnight trip

November – At home, alone. You can read about it in my previous blog and hopefully understand why I included it here.

There were also a few local excursions which didn’t take much time but did allow me to experience some new things, like Spring Lake and Scherrer Winery.

Approximate total time traveled: 3 months

Approximate number of fights taken based on memory at the moment: 21

Countries visited: 5

Here are some of the things I did that meant the most to me, were most memorable, or overcame a fear:

·         Bungee jumping off of the 265 foot high Old Colorado River Bridge in Costa Rica with Minor.

·         Renting a car and driving in Costa Rica for the first legitimate time even though it terrified me.

·         Driving a U-Haul truck for the first time even though that too, terrified me.

·         Leaving for lengthy travels the next day after moving.  I do not recommend this ever!

·         Spending an entire day in an infinity pool with some of my favourite people pretending it was one of our birthdays at different places we went and cowardly taking a small sip of some kind of flaming drink courtesy of Scott’s “birthday” and an adorable, flirty bartender.

·         Photo bombing a group photo (yes, they were strangers) for the first time in my life.

·         Meeting a fantastic woman named Lisa, originally from New Zealand who I hope I have the opportunity to see again because she is a beautiful role model for women around the world and one of the coolest, most interesting women I have met.

·         Meeting Sabrina, who taught me quite a lot in a short amount of time and when the power went out on our walk back to Casa Buena Vista after a lovely evening out….well, I don’t think I ever saw so many beautiful stars out or the sky quite like it was then.

·         Meeting countless others, some who I have kept in touch with and others who enhanced my travel experience for brief moments and remain nameless but not forgotten.

·         Officiating the marriage between my two friends Tim and Burt on Friday the 13^th.

·         Surprising Tim and Burt in Upstate New York by pretending to be a waitress in a blond wig that made me look like I had really bad hair, all orchestrated by Peter and Doug.

·         Cooking in the jungle with a symphony of howler monkeys, a light pattering of rain, and agoutis meandering about, which was one of the more perfectly happy moments of my life.

·         Falling into a window and hitting my head hard enough on a chair to make it bleed in Rio.

·         Taking tango lessons in Argentina which was a fantasy/dream of mine that became a reality.

·         Fire dancing on the beach in Costa Rica – even though I was passionately stupid about it and learned that palm oil is the worst fuel I’ve used.  (Yes, I would like a “do-over”.)

·         Fell in love with a man who has been dead for oh, about 68 years after visiting the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno.

·         Shopping for clothing and tango shoes in Buenos Aires, regularly drinking Argentinian wine with meals with my sister, and having one of the most amazing 12 course meals in my life all due to my sister’s planning and urging.

·         Eating dinner on the patio in the rain and wind when a big storm hit Rio.

·         Not getting kidnapped in Colombia yet having it capture my heart unexpectedly.

·         Being kidnapped in Costa Rica by Minor and then Fran onto the Sunset Sailing Tour.

·         Going down a scary water slide at night with Fran in La Fortuna and watching him scare some tourists with fictitious tales of seeing a snake at Tabacon Springs just so we could steal one of those exotic oversized lounges covered in fabric to rest in.

·         Eating a fish with the head still on it while on a day excursion with Anita, Cate, David, and their friends who were surveying a beach for rip tide dangers after a boy drowned there.

·         A wild night in one of Rio’s favelas at a nightclub and taking a “motorcycle death taxi” at sunrise blinded by an oversized helmet.

·         Watching the sun come up on more than one occasion in Brasil.

·         Silently flirting with a deaf boy who had an incredible smile on one of Rio’s beaches.

·         Being proposed to by an Italian taxi driver in Brasil.

·         Encountered a monkey that terrified me when he looked at me dead on with a funny stare, probably because a minute later he was mating with another monkey.

·         A memorable night at a place I now call the “Vomitarium” in Rio de Janeiro.

·         Eating some amazing food in Brasil, mostly due to Sarah and Sigmund’s scoping out good restaurants in Rio.

·         Adding magenta streaks to my hair like I always wanted to do.

·         Having a small taste of the “Carioca” life-style in Rio.

·         Watching a silent play in Brasil that took my breath away.

·         Biking around the Lagoa in Rio with my sister on a wobbly bike with a bell.

·         Seeing Dan, Scott, their boys, friends, and family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on their special day of commitment to each other.

·         Buying a stupidly expensive purse that became an analogy for the kind of man I want.

·         Wearing a Brazilian bikini even though it terrified my ass.  Oh wait, it’s the other way around.

·         Meeting a man named Manda briefly in Argentina who will remain in my mind forever.  I am still kicking myself for not getting his number to repay his kindness to me, even though I know that was part of the lesson.

·         Defenestration cooking with Jean Paul in Costa Rica, terrified of his “doggy” which was actually a caiman crocodile.

·         Unintentionally missing my flight for the first time ever.

·         Peter tricking me into eating sweetbreads for the first time at a phenomenal French restaurant in Upstate New York.

·         Never seeing a real ghost at The Benn Conger Inn but getting scared enough by David to scream out loud nonetheless.

·         Comparing graffiti art in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Bogota.

·         Trying the real deal caipirinhas in Rio and aguardiente in Bogota.

·         The couple of memorable experiences simply not appropriate here. 

·         Every single sunset I saw in Costa Rica, every howler monkey I heard, and every beautiful feeling that overcame me.

·         And yes, this last thing could be said about every place I went – ever sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, feel – every moment of laughter, frustration, fear, and once or twice tears – and every experience…………..it’s all mine to cherish for eternity.

2014 may not bring as much international travel as I would like, but I’m utilizing this foreseen lull to create other kinds of travel – specifically local travel – because really, this is one of the more underrated versions of travel.  I would also like to explore the realm of solo travel more, although I still have quite a few people at the top of my list I would like to go see or travel with. Many have the dream of going to a far-away land. I get it because Africa still calls to me like a heartbeat drumming steadfastly, and other places tug at my soul, all competing with Costa Rica, which is my first, longest, and most pure love.

It was in 2013 that I first heard about something called the “Century Club”, courtesy of We Said Go Travel, which is for people who have traveled to 100 countries or more.  I had a moment where my heart said, “I want to be in that club”.  I don’t want to travel with a strict itinerary only to hit some number and miss out on so much of the flavor of a place, which is ultimately what interests me the most.  I want to be a part of that club, but in a way that abides by my innermost desires to taste, see, hear, smell, and FEEL each place that gets marked on my map.   

The last time I had that feeling was with fire dancing.  I saw the brilliant fire, felt my heart come alive after a broken heart left me for dead, and said, “I’m going to learn how to do that.”  That was about 14 years ago, and I did exactly what I said I was going to do.  I hope the Century Club is exactly like that, but I won’t know for some years.  That’s how things work sometimes. 

I hope that 2014 has me working towards that goal, despite whatever obstacles are in my way and regardless of how slow the start may be.  I am looking forward to creating some wonderful weekend travel plans locally and getting to know areas that are easy to overlook – those closest to home.

And I hope that everyone who is taking the time to read this achieves whatever their heart desires in 2014 and beyond.  Go for it! You only have one life to live and life is as short as the world is wide. 

With Fire, Beauty, and Change,

 

~Naomi